Suggestions for my Cross Country road trip
 

So I'm driving across the country, starting from Baltimore and ending up in the San Francisco Bay Area (where I'm moving to, woo hoo!) . I had a couple friends lined up to go with me, but they've all fallen through, so I'm doing it alone.

I'm leaving the day after Labor Day, September 5, which is fast approaching, and I still haven't decided on things to do along the way. I'm sort of at a loss in terms of ideas for places/things to see that would be condusive to this road trip. I guess I'm looking for things that wouldn't require a whole day to experience.

Specific things like the Grand Canyon would be perfect... while I'm sure you could spend forever there, you could also just get out of your car, spend a couple hours to soak it in, then be on your way. That's what I'm looking for. Doing things like 'visiting' a city would be tough, because I'd almost just want to spend an entire day in a city to experience it.

So who's got suggestions? I'm typcially looking for stuff that wouldn't be too far away from either I-70 or I-80.

Be prepared for lots of traffic - and how long are you giving yourself to make this road trip? I did a cross country trip from AZ to NY when I moved this January, and the only things I did involved whoever I was crashing with nightly. It took me 7 days of driving, with 3 days of no driving in there so I could rest up since I drove alone.

I'm hoping to make it in less than a week. The pace of my trip will pretty much be determined by when the moving company (who's taking my furniture) is planning on having my stuff get out there. I'm hoping to leave Tuesday afternoon, and get there Sunday or Monday.

What route did you take? My sister did this trip last year and said there wasn't much traffic to speak of.

Carhenge, in nebraska is a must see... just to scratch your head and say.. why..

CHeck out Roadside america depending ont he route you take - they'll have a listing of the strange places to visit along the way... like somewhere in kansas they have a giant ball of twine.... and there's also the barbed wire museum in kansas (they sure know how to partyin kansas :D

You were planning to leave the weekend of Labor Day - that itself generates some traffic.

I took the 40 from Flagstaff to Albq., north to Denver, 76 to Omaha, then the 88 into Chicago, then to Rochester via the 90.

If you're near I-70, and don't mind the National Park fee (unless you have a National Parks Pass). I think it'd be worth it to make a trip up to Rocky Mountain National Park. Take Trail Ridge road over, and come down on the other side of the continental divide.

Palisade (Grand Junction area; western Colorado), has some wineries (drinking and driving probably isn't too conducive to cross country travel though), and I'm sure the wineries will not compare to Napa Valley wineries (although Grand River winery is fun to hang out at), oh, and hopefully it's not too late in the season for Palisade peaches.

If you go I-80, and make a detour south of Wolcott, Wyoming, there's the town of Saratoga, which has a very nice free natural hot springs. Lake Tahoe would also be a nice stop on the way.

Good luck on the trip, bring lots of good music.

Thanks mal and kurty, that's exactly the kind of things I'm looking for.

I'm leaving the day after labor day, actually, so I won't be driving over labor day weekend. i guess there might still be extra traffic from people taking extended vacations, but i'm hoping it'll be managable.

I made the cross county trek once, from Oak Harbor, WA to Newark, DE. When I made it over ten years ago in Montana there was NO speed limit during the day time, cept when driving through towns. It felt awesome to drive 100 mph passed cops and know I was doing nothing wrong, bonus is that Montana is beautiful. We stopped at the "Theodore Roosevelt National Park, in North Dakota too which was pretty cool.

I did the cross country thing twice last year. In January, took I-10 from the Bay Area to Orlando, FL, and took I-40 in October with the same start and end points. Drove both times with my bf, and we drove 12 hours a day for 5 days. Didn't really do a tourist thing as we went, just enjoyed the drive and the scenery as it passed. I'd love to do the cross country drive again up along I-70 or I-80, just to take that route.